(Mrs. Riddle: "This is called 'The Girl I Loved in Sunny
Tennessee.' I think I must have learned this when I was about 13-14 years old,
because I can't remember singing it when I was a smaller child, so I guess I
learned this one at school . . .")

On a morning bright and clear,
To my old home I drew near--
Just a village down in sunny Tennessee.
I was speeding on a train
That would bring me back again
To my sweetheart who was waiting there for me.

It was but a few short years
Since I kissed away her tears,
And I left her at my dear old mother's side;
And each day we've been apart,
She grew dearer to my heart
Than the night she promised she would be my bride.

Chorus: We could hear the darkies singing
As she said farewell to me.
Far across the fields of cotton,
My old homestead I could see.
When the moon rose in its glory,
Then I told life's sweetest story
To the girl I loved in sunny Tennessee.

As the train drew up at last,
Old familiar scenes I passed,
And I kissed my mother at the station door.
Then, as old friends gathered 'round,
Tears on every face I found,
And I missed the one that I'd been longing for.

And I whispered, "Mother, dear,
Where is Mary? She's not here."
All the world seemed lost, and sadness came to me.
For she pointed to a spot
In the churchyard little lot,
Where my sweetheart sleeps in sunny Tennessee.